1,007 research outputs found
Managing hyperglycaemia during antenatal steroid administration, labour and birth in pregnant women with diabetes
Optimal glycaemic control before and during pregnancy improves both maternal and fetal outcomes. This article summarizes the recently published guidelines on the management of glycaemic control in pregnant women with diabetes on obstetric wards and delivery units produced by the Joint British Diabetes Societies for Inpatient Care and available in full at www.diabetes.org.uk/joint-british-diabetes-society and https://abcd.care/joint-british-diabetes-societies-jbds-inpatient-care-group. Hyperglycaemia following steroid administration can be managed by variable rate intravenous insulin infusion (VRIII) or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) in women who are willing and able to safely selfāmanage insulin dose adjustment. All women with diabetes should have capillary blood glucose (CBG) measured hourly once they are in established labour. Those who are found to be higher than 7 mmol/l on two consecutive occasions should be started on VRIII. If general anaesthesia is used, CBG should be monitored every 30 min in the theatre. Both the VRIII and CSII rate should be reduced by at least 50% once the placenta is delivered. The insulin dose needed after delivery in insulinātreated Type 2 and Type 1 diabetes is usually 25% less than the doses needed at the end of first trimester. Additional snacks may be needed after delivery especially if breastfeeding. Stop all antiādiabetes medications after delivery in gestational diabetes. Continue to monitor CBG before and 1 h after meals for up to 24 h after delivery to pick up any preāexisting diabetes or newāonset diabetes in pregnancy. Women with Type 2 diabetes on oral treatment can continue to take metformin after birth
On The Phase Structure and Thermodynamic Geometry of R-Charged Black Holes
We study the phase structure and equilibrium state space geometry of
R-charged black holes in , 4 and 7 and the corresponding rotating ,
and branes. For various charge configurations of the compact black
holes in the canonical ensemble we demonstrate new liquid-gas like phase
coexistence behaviour culminating in second order critical points. The critical
exponents turn out to be the same as that of four dimensional asymptotically
AdS black holes in Einstein Maxwell theory. We further establish that the
regions of stability for R-charged black holes are, in some cases, more
constrained than is currently believed, due to properties of some of the
response coefficients. The equilibrium state space scalar curvature is
calculated for various charge configurations, both for the case of compact as
well as flat horizons and its asymptotic behaviour with temperature is
established.Comment: 1 + 33 pages, LaTeX, 25 figures. References adde
How large should whales be?
The evolution and distribution of species body sizes for terrestrial mammals
is well-explained by a macroevolutionary tradeoff between short-term selective
advantages and long-term extinction risks from increased species body size,
unfolding above the 2g minimum size induced by thermoregulation in air. Here,
we consider whether this same tradeoff, formalized as a constrained
convection-reaction-diffusion system, can also explain the sizes of fully
aquatic mammals, which have not previously been considered. By replacing the
terrestrial minimum with a pelagic one, at roughly 7000g, the terrestrial
mammal tradeoff model accurately predicts, with no tunable parameters, the
observed body masses of all extant cetacean species, including the 175,000,000g
Blue Whale. This strong agreement between theory and data suggests that a
universal macroevolutionary tradeoff governs body size evolution for all
mammals, regardless of their habitat. The dramatic sizes of cetaceans can thus
be attributed mainly to the increased convective heat loss is water, which
shifts the species size distribution upward and pushes its right tail into
ranges inaccessible to terrestrial mammals. Under this macroevolutionary
tradeoff, the largest expected species occurs where the rate at which
smaller-bodied species move up into large-bodied niches approximately equals
the rate at which extinction removes them.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 data table
Regular Incidence Complexes, Polytopes, and C-Groups
Regular incidence complexes are combinatorial incidence structures
generalizing regular convex polytopes, regular complex polytopes, various types
of incidence geometries, and many other highly symmetric objects. The special
case of abstract regular polytopes has been well-studied. The paper describes
the combinatorial structure of a regular incidence complex in terms of a system
of distinguished generating subgroups of its automorphism group or a
flag-transitive subgroup. Then the groups admitting a flag-transitive action on
an incidence complex are characterized as generalized string C-groups. Further,
extensions of regular incidence complexes are studied, and certain incidence
complexes particularly close to abstract polytopes, called abstract polytope
complexes, are investigated.Comment: 24 pages; to appear in "Discrete Geometry and Symmetry", M. Conder,
A. Deza, and A. Ivic Weiss (eds), Springe
The International-Trade Network: Gravity Equations and Topological Properties
This paper begins to explore the determinants of the topological properties
of the international - trade network (ITN). We fit bilateral-trade flows using
a standard gravity equation to build a "residual" ITN where trade-link weights
are depurated from geographical distance, size, border effects, trade
agreements, and so on. We then compare the topological properties of the
original and residual ITNs. We find that the residual ITN displays, unlike the
original one, marked signatures of a complex system, and is characterized by a
very different topological architecture. Whereas the original ITN is
geographically clustered and organized around a few large-sized hubs, the
residual ITN displays many small-sized but trade-oriented countries that,
independently of their geographical position, either play the role of local
hubs or attract large and rich countries in relatively complex
trade-interaction patterns
Responses of marine benthic microalgae to elevated CO<inf>2</inf>
Increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere are causing a rise in pCO2 concentrations in the ocean surface and lowering pH. To predict the effects of these changes, we need to improve our understanding of the responses of marine primary producers since these drive biogeochemical cycles and profoundly affect the structure and function of benthic habitats. The effects of increasing CO2 levels on the colonisation of artificial substrata by microalgal assemblages (periphyton) were examined across a CO2 gradient off the volcanic island of Vulcano (NE Sicily). We show that periphyton communities altered significantly as CO2 concentrations increased. CO2 enrichment caused significant increases in chlorophyll a concentrations and in diatom abundance although we did not detect any changes in cyanobacteria. SEM analysis revealed major shifts in diatom assemblage composition as CO2 levels increased. The responses of benthic microalgae to rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions are likely to have significant ecological ramifications for coastal systems. Ā© 2011 Springer-Verlag
Models of Star-Planet Magnetic Interaction
Magnetic interactions between a planet and its environment are known to lead
to phenomena such as aurorae and shocks in the solar system. The large number
of close-in exoplanets that were discovered triggered a renewed interest in
magnetic interactions in star-planet systems. Multiple other magnetic effects
were then unveiled, such as planet inflation or heating, planet migration,
planetary material escape, and even modification of the host star properties.
We review here the recent efforts in modelling and understanding magnetic
interactions between stars and planets in the context of compact systems. We
first provide simple estimates of the effects of magnetic interactions and then
detail analytical and numerical models for different representative scenarii.
We finally lay out a series of future developments that are needed today to
better understand and constrain these fascinating interactions.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted as a chapter in the Handbook of
Exoplanet
Does owning a pet protect older people against loneliness?
This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Pet ownership is thought to make a positive contribution to health, health behaviours and the general well-being of older people. More specifically pet ownership is often proposed as a solution to the problem of loneliness in later life and specific 'pet based' interventions have been developed to combat loneliness. However the evidence to support this relationship is slim and it is assumed that pet ownership is a protection against loneliness rather than a response to loneliness. The aim of this paper is to examine the association between pet ownership and loneliness by exploring if pet ownership is a response to, or protection against, loneliness using Waves 0-5 from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
Validation of the SCID-hu Thy/Liv mouse model with four classes of licensed antiretrovirals.
BackgroundThe SCID-hu Thy/Liv mouse model of HIV-1 infection is a useful platform for the preclinical evaluation of antiviral efficacy in vivo. We performed this study to validate the model with representatives of all four classes of licensed antiretrovirals.Methodology/principal findingsEndpoint analyses for quantification of Thy/Liv implant viral load included ELISA for cell-associated p24, branched DNA assay for HIV-1 RNA, and detection of infected thymocytes by intracellular staining for Gag-p24. Antiviral protection from HIV-1-mediated thymocyte depletion was assessed by multicolor flow cytometric analysis of thymocyte subpopulations based on surface expression of CD3, CD4, and CD8. These mice can be productively infected with molecular clones of HIV-1 (e.g., the X4 clone NL4-3) as well as with primary R5 and R5X4 isolates. To determine whether results in this model are concordant with those found in humans, we performed direct comparisons of two drugs in the same class, each of which has known potency and dosing levels in humans. Here we show that second-generation antiretrovirals were, as expected, more potent than their first-generation predecessors: emtricitabine was more potent than lamivudine, efavirenz was more potent than nevirapine, and atazanavir was more potent than indinavir. After interspecies pharmacodynamic scaling, the dose ranges found to inhibit viral replication in the SCID-hu Thy/Liv mouse were similar to those used in humans. Moreover, HIV-1 replication in these mice was genetically stable; treatment of the mice with lamivudine did not result in the M184V substitution in reverse transcriptase, and the multidrug-resistant NY index case HIV-1 retained its drug-resistance substitutions.ConclusionGiven the fidelity of such comparisons, we conclude that this highly reproducible mouse model is likely to predict clinical antiviral efficacy in humans
Biological richness of Gunung Slamet, Central Java, and the need for its protection
Designating protected areas remains a core strategy in biodiversity conservation. Despite high endemism, montane forests across the island of Java are under-represented in Indonesia's protected area network. Here, we document the montane biodiversity of Gunung Slamet, an isolated volcano in Central Java, and provide evidence to support its increased protection. During September-December 2018, we surveyed multiple sites for birds, primates, terrestrial mammals, reptiles, amphibians and vegetation. Survey methods included transects, camera traps and targeted searches at six sites, at altitudes of 970-2,512 m. We used species distribution models for birds and mammals of conservation concern to identify priority areas for protection. We recorded 99 bird species (13 globally threatened), 15 mammals (five globally threatened) and 17 reptiles and amphibians (two endemic). Our species distribution models showed considerable cross-taxon congruence between important areas on Slamet's upper slopes, generally above 1,800 m. Particularly important were records of the endemic subspecies of the Endangered Javan laughingthrush Garrulax rufifrons slamatensis, not recorded in the wild since 1925, the Endangered Javan gibbon Hylobates moloch and Javan surili Presbytis comata, and the Vulnerable Javan lutung Trachypithecus auratus and Javan leopard Panthera pardus melas. Recent forest loss has been modest, at least 280 km2 of continuous forest remain above 800 m, and our surveys show that forest habitats are in good condition. However, the mountain is widely used by trappers and hunters. Given its importance for biodiversity conservation, we discuss different options for improving the protection status of Gunung Slamet, including designation as a National Park or Essential Ecosystem
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